Spinner Varun Chakravarthy delivered telling blow on Monday as he grabbed three vital wickets, while Phil Salt's blistering half-century led Kolkata Knight Riders to a seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the IPL fixture.
Chakravarthy's brilliant figures of 3/16 lit up the middle overs after Vaibhav Arora produced the initial impact (2/29) to restrict Delhi to a modest 153/9 after Rishabh Pant decided to bat first.
In a game where most batsmen struggled to score on a two-paced pitch, Salt made the most of a life on 15 to craft a beautiful 68 off just 33 deliveries. His knock, filled with five sixes and seven boundaries, comprised an exciting 79-run opening partnership shared with Sunil Narine in just 38 deliveries.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer got to 33 not out off 23 deliveries, while his brother Venkatesh Iyer notched 26 not out of 23 deliveries as KKR comfortably completed the chase in 16.3 overs, significantly boosting their net run-rate to 1.096.
With this win, KKR climbed to the summit of the 10-team table, sitting pretty at the second spot with 12 points from nine games.
Delhi Capitals' Lizard Williams played a game full of mistakes. He bore the brunt of an opening over that leaked 23 runs as a bad start set the name for KKR's run chase. His miseries did not end there as he dropped an easy catch from Salt, which he went on to prosper.
Salt's aggressive style helped KKR make a big start as they reached 79 for no loss in just six overs. But left-arm spinner Axar Patel provided KKR a breakthrough as he dismissed Narine, then calmly ripped Salt as his efforts were not enough to slow down KKR.
Kings XI Punjab's bowlers dominated the power play, conceding just 67 runs for 3 wickets against the Delhi side. The debutant Chakravarthy had a significant say in scalping the big names in the Delhi side—Pant, Stubbs, and impact sub Kushagra.
Although the start was promising, the innings lacked a lot of momentum for Delhi, with none of the batsmen able to consolidate after strong starts. Their top scorer was Kuldeep Yadav, who scored a gritty 35 not out and took them to the milestone of crossing the 150-run mark.
